The future of freight

In the years that led up to 2019, the twin rise of e-commerce and consumer expectations began placing unprecedented strain on global transportation networks and logistics providers.1 Manufacturers and retailers responded by pushing their existing systems—a wide-ranging global network of tightly coordinated just-in-time production and fulfillment operations—even harder. When the pandemic hit in early 2020, demand shifted precipitously, just as production began pausing unpredictably everywhere from Dubai to Shenzhen. Simultaneously, moving goods through ports and on planes became significantly more complicated. The result: disastrous bottlenecks and price spikes that underlined the fragility of our overstretched supply chains and accelerated the urgency of rethinking leading practices for how we move goods.